Stand for dress-forms and the like



R. F. PALMER STAND FOR DRESS-FORMS AND THE LIKE Sept. 2, 1952 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed June 12, 1951 3:: 5i 3331s a INVENTM. 2090/2 [Zllmez WITNESS ATTORNEY Se t. 2, 1952 R. F. PALMER 2,609,132 STAND FOR DRESS-FORMS AND THE LIKE Filed June 12, 1951 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 INVENTOR. By 214% ziiwfler WITNESS= ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 2, 1952 UNITED STAT E S- PAT ENT OFF ICE" STAND non DRESS-FORMS AND THE LIKE Ralph F. Palmer, Montclair, N. J .,-as'sighor to The Singer Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N. 3;, a corporation'of New ersey Application June12, 1951, SerialvNo..231,193"

e 7 Claims. 7 y g 1 The present invention. relates to standsfor dress-:forms and the like, of the type set io'rthin the U. S. Patent of Ray et'a'L, No. 2,284,967. The primaryobject of the present invention isito pr'ovide such a stand which is fully satisfactory in operation but which can be manufactured and sold "at a much lower cost than similar devices.

heretofore made.

A there specific object of the present invention is to provide an improved cross-head fora dress-form standthat adi'ustably sup orts the cross-arms; which cross-head can. be manufactured moreinexpensively than prior'devices without detracting from the usefulness or efiici'ency of it.

Having in mind these "and "other objects. that will-be-evidehtfromanunderstandingoi this disclosure, 'a-presently preferred embodiment "of the invention is -hereinaftenset forth in such detail as-to enable those "skilled in the art to readily understand the function, operatiom construction and --advantaig'es of it, whenreadin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in "which":

Fig,'l is a side elevational view of a stand including a cross-head that embodies the teachings of this invention, with the dress-form supported thereby shown in verticalsection,

2 isasection View taken substantially on the llne 2 -2 ofF'ig. I with the-dressdorm removed. 7 7

Fig.1 3' is a fragmentary vertical section view taken substantially on the :line -3'--3 of'Flg. 2.

.li lgr. 4 lsa fragmentary-section view taken on the line 4-4 ofF-i g. r

:iBfigr. 5 isiaiperspective view of the cross-head body member with the :hubisecured thereto.-

,Fig. 6-.i-s a fragmentary vertical section view taken substantially: on the line 6--6:of Fig; 2,

Fig. 'Zisa plan view of theib'lankFof sheet metal whichiis to be bentto form the body member of the-cross-heazdv s Fig-18 15 a perspective view ofone of thetrlocking levers.

With reference to the drawings, the illustrated embodiment of invention. includes a base i from which rises a -vertical standard 2 carrying at its'upper enda wire, dress-form supporting, neck-frame 3; 'A dressform 4 is and supported by the neck-frame 3,-the1 lower-end. or shirt portion. of the-dress-form beingsecured against lateral movement relative to the standaid 2 bya skirt-support 5. e 4

[The base I" comprises a substantiallycylindri'calhub'fi forme or heavy metal to render the standinore, stable and from which; radiate three 7 legs 1. B ually spaced aneularly about the. hub. The legs 1 may be secured to the hub:

6 in any convenient manner, but are preferably made detachable so that. the stand be readily knocked-down. The vertical standard 52 consistsof a hollow tube '8 that-is detachably se cured in a central bore of the hub 6 as by a set screw, not shown, and a rod '9' that is telescopi cally received in the tube 8,. The rode-is secured in vertically adjusted position relative to theftub'e 8 by a. clamp [-0 that is fixed to the upperj-end;of the tube.

The above construction is fully set forth copending U. Spa-tentapplication serial No; 145,301, filed Feb". 23, 1950, and it is fllffofedeemed to be unnecessary to expand this 'discfosure relation thereto.

The skirt supportincludes a tubular no H adapted to slidably receive the rod our the standard 2 and which is adapted to be secured to the rod 9 in vertically adjusted position by means of a clamp, generally designated l2, -'fixed there to. As-more clearly seen in Fig. 6, the endsfof the hub H are flared outwardly and reduced form shoulders 13 and th'i n wailled ends 14." The clamp (Z- which is substantially thesame'as clamp HI,- i's-iormed from-a single blank of slieet metal and includes a rectangularly shaped back:

l5. Upper and lower platforms IB andlI, respectively, are bent from the short edges of the rectangular back 5 at substantially right angles thereto. Theclam'p t2 thus appears .generally O-shaped in vertical-section. Apertures 1'8 and;

l9 are provided in the platforms lfi and l1; re-

spectively. The aperture I9 is of such size as to slidably' receive the rod 19 and the aperture [8 is large enough to be fitted over" one oi the re- The reduced. end: l is upset, as clearly shown. in Fig; 6, to secure-the duced ends of the hub H;

clamp l2 to the hub 1L The clamp I2 is providedwith two springbiased levers 20 and :21 which serve to hold it in: adjusted position on the rod 9 each lever'serving' asa one-waysto'p; Thelevers '20- land-12f. project through slots formed in the back lifandsare.

in the lovers, and also surrounds the rod? when the clamp .is positioned on the red. It be '1 noted that by this binding action, the upper lever :20 will prevent the clamp 12 from moving down-- a wardly on the rod 9 and the lower lever 2| will prevent upward movement of the clamp [2 on the rod 9. In order to raise the clamp, the lever 2| is manually pivoted to a horizontal position against the action of the spring 23, which eliminates the binding action of the lever 2| and releases the clamp l2 for movement. In order to lower the clamp on the rod 9, the lever 20 is moved to a horizontal position. To facilitate the manual manipulations of the levers 20 and 2|, they are provided with fingers 24 and 25, respectively, which project to a point where they can be readily grasped. Motion-limits are provided for the levers against which they can be held in a horizontal or rod-releasing position. These limits are formed as fingers 26 on side portions 2'! of the clamp 12. The sides .21 are bent from the longer edges of the rectangular back 15 at substantially a right angle thereto and to the same side as the platforms l6 and H. The levers 20 and 2| are enlarged transversely adjacent the apertures therein to extend beyond the sides 21, as more clearly seen in Fig. 2. These enlarged edges ofthe lever will albut against the fingers 26 when the levers are moved toward each other, and when thus held against the fingers, the levers will be in rod-releasing position, permitting the clamp [2 to be freely moved on the rod 9.

In assembling the clamp l2, after the platform l6 has been secured to the hub l l by upsetting the adjacent reduced end [4, the levers 20 and 2| are positioned with the apertured ends thereof projecting through the slots in the back IS. The cotter pin 22 is then passed through the apertures in the projecting end, after which the spring 23 is placed in position. Outward movement of the levers 20 and 2! is limited by the binding produced between them and the walls of the slots in the back l5. The clamp is thus in a stable assembled condition.

A cross-head body member preferably provided with a substantially square central bore portion 28 having an aperture 29 located centrally thereof, is secured to the opposite end of the hub H from the clamp [2 in a manner similar to that in which the clamp I2 is secured to the hub, i. e., the reduced end I4 of the hub projects through the aperture 29 and is then upset. The edges of the base portion 28 are extended to form clamp-bases 30 which, in the preferred form, are four in number, substantially rectangular and equally spaced angularly about the base portion 28. Along the outer edges of the clamp-bases 30, the cross-head blank is bent at substantially a right angle to form side-plates 3i. Ears 32 and 33 are bent inwardly toward the central portion 28 from the side edges of the depending portions 3| at substantially right angles thereto.

The ears 32 and 33 are provided with square apertures 34 and 35, respectively, transversely aligned with respect to each other in each pair of cars, to receive the cross arms 36 and 31, which are provided in pairs, the pair 31 being longer than the pair 36. The longer arms 31 are adapted to engage the dress form 4 across its width and the shorter arms 36 are adapted to engage the dress form across its depth. The arms 36 and 31 are provided with arcuately bent outer ends which carry rubber fenders 38 to insure a firm but non-damaging contact with the dress-form. To preclude turning of the arms in the apertures 34 and 35, they are made square to cooperate with the square configuration of the apertures.

With particular reference to Fig. 2, it will be seen that in the preferred embodiment of my in- .4 vention the clamp bases 30 are not formed as planar extensions of the base portion 28 of the cross-head body but that the opposite parts of the clamp bases lie in planes parallel to but spaced above and below the plane of the base portion 28. This spacing is made sufficient to place the pairs of cross-arms in different planes and thus to provide a clearance so that the arms will not interfere with each other.

In order to secure the cross-arms in the desired, adjusted position, four spring clamps are provided, one for each of the cross-arms. However, since all the clamps are identical, for the sake of brevity, only one will be described. Each of the spring clamps comprises a lever 39 (Fig. 8) centrally apertured to slidably receive a crossarm, and biased into binding engagement with that cross-arm by means of a spring 40. The lever 39 is pivotally mounted in a depending manner on the clamp base 30 by a reduced neck portion 4! of the lever which extends through a slot 42 in the clamp base 36. The slot is elongated so that in placing the lever in position, it is only necessary to insert the end through the elongated slot and give it a quarter-turn. The spring 40, which normally surrounds a cross-arm, abuts against the lever 39 at one end and against the ear 33 at the other. A circularly-shaped depression 43 is formed in the ear 33 from the center of which is punched the aperture 35, which depression serves as a seat for the spring 40. The

lever 39 is similarly provided with a spring seat. Thus, the spring 46 biases the lever 39 to one side and into a binding engagement with the crossarm inserted in the aperture in the lever, which locks the cross-arm against movement in the one direction, unless the lever is manually moved to and held in an arm-releasing position. The

cross-arm is at all times freely movable in the opposite direction.

A substantially V-shaped slot extends inwardly:

In the fully developed condition, as shown in Fig. 5, the slot in the ear 32 bent from the adjacent clamp base 36 lies directly opposite the slot in the depending portion and cooperates therewith in order to form motion-limits for the lever 39. The lever 39 is enlarged transversely adjacent the cross-rod aperture therein to such an extent as to extend into both the slots in thedepending portion 31 and ear 32. When the cross-rod is removed, the spring 40 urges the lever against the edges 45 and 41 of the slots, which facilitates assembling the cross-head.

With the cross-arm in position, the lever 39 may be readily placedin arm-releasing position by moving it into engagement with the edges 44- and 46. It will be noted that the pivot slot 42 in the clamp base 36 is so positioned relative to the normal edges 44 and 46 that the lever will be substantially normal to the cross arm when in engagement with the edges 44 and 46 and thus in arm-releasing position.

When the cross-arms are inserted in the crosshead, as shown in Fig. 2, they are so placed in" a selected relationship that the clamping levers 39 must be moved to arm-releasing position to admit them. Thus, the cross-arms may be readily moved outwardly against the inner walls of the dress-form 4 and will be automatically" locked in this adjusted positionby the levers -39 te hold the lower-or skirt-portion 01 the dressform against movement relative to the vertical standard 2.-

The cross-head body, as hereinbefore stated,

is formed from asingle blank of sheet metal.

The blank, as it is punched outrappearsas shown inllig. 7, in which 'figure thelines along which.

the blank is to as dotted.

, From the present disclosureit will be seen that be subsequently bent are shown the cross-headmay be'readily formed :by simple manufacturing steps. readily adapted to mass production methods. The cross-headcan, therefore, be producedandsold at armuch lower cost than has: heretofore been possible. It will also be noted that the economy produced has in no way detracted from the function or utility of he c s n s r Numerous alterations and changes of the structure disclosed, herein will suggest them selves to those skilled in the art. However, it

is to be-understood that the present disclosure relates to a preferredembodiment of my inventionwhichisior purposes ofillustration only and not to be construed as a limitation of'my invention. All such modifications which do not depart from the spirit of my invention are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is:

1. A cross-head for a dress-form stand or the like including a body member formed from a single blank of sheet metal and having a base portion provided with a standard-receiving aperture, a plurality of clamp-bases extending from the periphery of the base portion, side-plates bent from the extremities of the clamp-bases, and pairs of cars bent inwardly from the transverse edges of the side-plates to underlie the clampbases; a clamping-lever provided for each of said clamp-bases and pivoted thereto at one end, said ears and clamping-levers being apertured to receive cross-arms, and a spring interposed between each oi the clamping-levers and a corresponding one of each of the pairs of said ears to bias the clamping-levers into binding engagement with the respective cross-arms inserted therethrough.

2. A cross-head for a dress-form stand or the like including a body member formed from a single piece of sheet metal and having a base portion provided with a standard-receiving aperture, a plurality of side plates carried by the base portion and inclined thereto, said sideplates being provided with pairs of transversely aligned apertures, the apertures in each pair being located in opposite side-plates, a clampinglever adjacent each side-plate and pivotally carried by the base portion, the longitudinal axis of the clamping-levers lying on a plane substantially parallel to the plane of the respective sideplate, each of said clamping-levers having apertures aligned with a pair of apertures in the sideplates, cross-arms inserted through the aligned apertures, and springs adapted to bias the clamping-levers into binding engagement with the respective cross-arms inserted therethrough.

3. A cross-head for a dress-form stand or the like including a body member formed from a single blank of sheet metal and having a base portion provided with a standard-receiving aperture, a plurality of clamp-bases extending from the perlphery 01 and substantially in the plane of the base bortion, said clamp-bases "being substaii tially aequally spaced angularly 'about the center of-the-base portion, si'de-plates-bent iromthe'ex tremities oi the clamp-'b'ases at substantially right angles thereto, and pairs of ears bent inwardly fromthe transverse edges o'f the side pl'ates"to underlie the ciamp -bases and to lie substantially normal thereto"; a clamping-lever provided for each of said clamp-bases and pivoted thereto at one ..end, said: ears and clamping-levers being; apertured to receive cross-arms, and a spriIi-g 'iIk terposed between each ofthe clamping-levers and a corresponding oneof each of thepairs of'said ears-to bias theclamping-levers into bindingren gagement with the respective cross-arms inserted therethrough.- I v 4-. A cross-head for a dress-form stander the like including a body member formed from a single blank of sheet metalandhaving a base portion provided with 'avstandard-receiving apex ture, a plurality of clamp-bases 'extending fro'm the periphery of the base portion, side-plates bent from the extremities of the clamp-bases,.and pairs of ears bent inwardly from. the transverse edges of the side-plates to. underlie the clampbases; a clamping-lever provided for each of said clamp-bases and pivoted thereto at one end, said ears and clamping-levers being apertured to receive cross-arms, a spring interposed between each of the clamping-levers and a corresponding one of each of the pairs of said ears to bias the clamping-levers into binding engagement with the respective cross-arms inserted therethrough, whereby the cross-arms will be releasably locked against movement in the one direction, and stops for limiting the pivotal movement of the clamping-levers, one of said stops for each clampinglever being so arranged that the clamping-lever will be in arm-releasing position when abutting thereagainst.

5. A cross-head for a dress-form stand or the like including a body member formed from a single blank of sheet metal and having a base portion provided with a standard-receiving aperture, a plurality of clamp-bases extending from the periphery of the base portion, side-plates bent from the extremities of the clamp-bases, and pairs of ears bent inwardly from the transverse edges of the side-plates to underlie the clampbases, a corresponding one of the ears of each pair being elongated to further underlie a part of the base portion, a clamping-lever provided for each of said clamp-bases, said clamping-levers being pivoted at one end to the clamp-bases, said ears and clamping-levers being apertured to receive cross-arms, a spring interposed between each of the clamping-levers and a corresponding one of each of the pairs of said ears to bias the clamping-levers into a binding engagement with the respective cross-arms inserted therethrough whereby the cross-arms will be releasably locked against movement in the one direction, transversely aligned slots formed in each side-plate and the elongated ear bent from the adjacent side-plate, said clamping-levers having transversely enlarged mid-portions that project through the respective slots, whereby the slots will serve as motion-limits, one of the limit-positions for each clamping-lever being so arranged that the clamping-lever will be in arm-releasing position when held therein.

6. A cross-head for a dress-form stand or the like comprising a hub adapted to slidably receive a vertical standard and having reduced ends, a clamp adapted to secure the hub to the standard in vertically adjusted position and having a standardereceiving aperture therein, a body member having. a base portion provided with a standardrec'eiving aperture, said reduced ends of thehub projecting through the standard-receiving aperturesof-the clamp and base portion and being upset to secure thesame together, said base portion further comprising a plurality of clampbases extending from the periphery of the base portion, side-plates bent from the extremities of the clamp-bases, and pairs of ears bent inwardly from the transverse edges of thelside-plates to underlie the clamp-bases, a clamping-lever provided for each of said clamp-bases, and pivoted thereto at one end, said ears and clamping-levers being apertured to receive cross-arms, and a spring interposed between each of the clampinglevers and a corresponding one of each of the pairs of said ears to bias the clamping-levers into binding engagement with the respective crossarms inserted therethrough.

7. In combination with a stand for dress-forms or the-like having a base, a vertically disposed standard rising from the base, a dress-form supporting neck-frame supported on the upper end of the standard, and a cross-head adjustably secured on the'standard and adapted to'carry cross arms engageable with the innerv surface of, the dress-form to secure it againstlateral movement relative to said standard, said cross-head comprising a hub having reduced ends surrounding the standard, a clamp having a standard-receiving aperture adaptedto be secured to the standard in vertically adjusted position, a body member formed from a single piece of sheet metal and having a base portion centrally apertured to slidably receive the standard, one of said reduced ends of the hub projecting through the aperture in the clamp and the other projectingthrough the aperture in the base portion, said reduced ends being upset to secure the parts together.

a l RALPHF. PALMER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of recordin the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name 7 Date 2,284,967 Ray et a1 June 2, 1942 2,341,424 Chason Feb. 8, 1944 2,552,811 Palmer May 15, 1951 

